The next day, we were walking through the forest as usual. However, if I were to say something different about today, it was how proactive Arte was in trying to be helpful.

"Oppa, Oppa! Look! I can get fruits without climbing trees now!"

Arte shot out a sticky mana thread to the fruit above the tree. She then pulled the thread along with the fruit to her hand.

"Ooh! That's amazing, Arte. You're doing great."

"Hehe, because my teacher is great!"

She then tottered up to me and held out the fruit.

"Here, Oppa! For you!"

"Hm? No, you should eat it yourself. It's the first fruit you get with magic, after all."

Didn't they say, "The food you worked for yourself tasted best?”

I want her to understand that saying. So I was planning to refuse and let her eat the fruit she worked to get. However–

"But, but... I want to share this with Oppa..."

She looked down at the fruit in her hand and slumped her shoulders.

'What? Was that wrong for me to say?'

It seemed like my consideration backfired. So I decided to accept Arte’s gift with gratitude.

"Well, if you really want to share, then... sure. Thank you, Arte."

"Ehehe. You’re welcome!”

Arte smiled brightly and brought the fruit to my mouth.

“Here, Oppa! Open wide~”

“Huh? Arte, this is–”

“Hurry, hurry! Say aah~”

“A-Aah~”

Arte fed me the fruit with her hand. I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it, but having the opposite gender feed you is more embarrassing than I thought.

“Oppa? Why are you blushing?"

I ignored that question.

"Oppa, Oppa. Why are you blushing~?"

Of course, I ignored that question too. However, Arte doesn't seem like she wants to let me off easily. She circled me and giggled as she looked at me.

'To be teased by a younger girl... is this okay?'

I have my status as a teacher to uphold! Then again, I know Arte didn't mean anything bad by it.

She is just being playful and wants to have fun, like a normal child her age. So there's no need for me to think too much about it.

"Anyway, Arte. Since it's about time for lunch, let's get more fruits together and prepare to eat."

"Yes~!"

We gathered more fruits and some other ingredients before sitting down at a tree stump next to each other. As Arte munched on some of the fruits, I took out my cooking tools from the subspace pocket and asked her.

"What would you like to eat today, Arte?"

"Hmm... something tasty!"

"Haha. I like your spirit, but if you can just be more specific..."

"Eh? Well..."

It was then that I remembered how Arte had lost her memory and barely knew any food other than what we had eaten so far. So it was understandable that Arte would have a hard time answering the question.

'I should make a variety of food from now on. There are all sorts of delicious food, after all, both from Earth and this world. So it would be sad if she didn't even know about them.'

I nodded to myself and suggested an option.

"Then... how about sweet dishes?"

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"Yes! Yes! Anything Oppa makes is tasty!"

"Thank you. It will take a while then, so please wait for a bit."

"Yes! I'll help!"

Arte asked me how she could help. She doesn’t need to, but since she insists, I told her to get me some water from the river. She then stood up and began to carry the bucket in a familiar motion.

"Then, Oppa, I will get some water and come back!"

"Sure. Call me if something happens."

"It's not far, you know? Hehe, Oppa worries too much."

As she said, the river was right over there. In the first place, I intentionally chose to walk along the river as we headed to the next town.

The main reason is to have easy access to clean water. But there are other reasons too, such as this place being a relatively open space. Resting in an open space like this makes it easy for me to notice any danger that might appear.

'Like the appearance of monsters or shady people.'

Of course, no matter how open this space was, we are still surrounded by trees since we are inside a forest. But the trees were quite far away, so it would be easy for me to notice dangers before they got close.

'Fortunately, we haven't seen any of those until now.'

However, it seems like our lucky streak ends today.

"Kyaa!"

Hearing Arte scream, I dropped everything and stood up before looking in her direction.

'A Vanilla Moo?'

I saw a milk-producing four-legged creature similar to a cow that you'd often see on Earth. However, if there was anything different about this cow, it was the fact that it had a sturdy horn and was aggressive enough to charge at enemies when they saw one.

Of course, since it is a monster, they see all humans as enemies by default. So the moment the Vanilla Cou looked at Arte, it immediately let out a spirited shout and charged at her at full speed.

"Mooo!!"

"N-no!"

Arte tried to take a step back, but she slipped and fell on her butt. To be honest, the current Arte was way stronger than that monster.

But who was Arte? Wasn't she just an amnesiac 10-year-old girl who had never seen a monster before now? So it's no wonder Arte became so terrified that she couldn't even realize she was stronger.

'That's a normal reaction.’

Fortunately, the distance between the two is quite far.

"Arte!"

"Oppa?!"

I stood between the two and held out my hand.

"N-no! Oppa! Forget about me and run!"

Arte looked aghast and tried to stand up. Her body was trembling.

"You can't stop that huge thing with bare hands!"

Was she imagining my body getting impaled by its horn? Arte was pulling my sleeves as if telling me to get away.

'Would you look at that?'

Arte was clearly trembling in fear, but instead of running away, she was worrying about me and trying to get me to safety instead. I smiled at her and said with confidence.

"Don't worry."

Even if this monster charged at full speed, I actually can stop it with one hand like this, but--

"We will be fine."

This is a good occasion, I was planning to teach Arte a defensive magic anyway. So I should use this occasion to teach her another cool thing about magic. I roused my mana and manipulated the air around me.

"I will protect you, Arte."

[Gather], [Solidify], [Harden].

It was a series of 1-circle auxiliary magic that I stacked on top of each other. Instantly, the air around me got sucked into my outstretched hand and formed a concentrated vacuum of wind.

Arte's long hair fluttered along with the wind. Her eyes opened wide.

"Watch and learn, Arte."

There are higher-tier magic specialized for defense, like [Barrier] and [Shield]. But when it comes to magic, even 1-circle magic could be stronger than high-ranked ones.

"Because I am going to show you the best way to use magic."

Then, I resonated the mana in the atmosphere with my mana and 'changed' the concentrated wind into a compressed, rampaging whirlwind.

"[Combination Magic: Wind Wall]"

Immediately, a fierce gale formed into a huge wall and stood between me and the monster. Soon, the Vanilla Moo’s horn hit the wall, and then--

"Mooo?!"

The wall suddenly launched an explosion of wind towards the attacker and blasted the cow far into the distance. Only after blasting through several trees did its body finally stop flying.

"Mooo..."

The Vanilla Moo tried to stand up. But was it because of injury? Its legs were bent in a strange direction, its body was twitching, and it could no longer stand up on its own.

"I guess that's it."

I deactivated the [Wind Wall]. Immediately, the solidified wind disappeared and dispersed to where they came from.

I looked at Arte and smiled, feeling refreshed from the cool breeze. Was she surprised? She seemed dazed from the entire thing as she looked at me.

"How was it, Arte? Did you get it? This is how to use magic."

But seeing that her body was no longer trembling, I think she's going to be alright now. Did she realize I was asking about magic?

"Un… Un! I get it!"

Arte nodded with a flushed face. Her eyes sparkling as she looked at me.

"I see. Then tell me, cadet Arte. What did you understand?”

"That my Oppa is the coolest!”

"Hm?”

Then, Arte smiled brightly and threw her body at me. I caught her body in surprise and raised my eyebrows. Somehow, she learned a completely different thing than what I was teaching her.

'But why?'

Arte rubbed her face on my chest without knowing my troubled heart. She even started sniffing with a blissful face and wagging her tail like a dog!

'No, what am I saying? Arte doesn't have a tail.'

Unfortunately, that's the only way I can describe how Arte looks right now.

"Uh, Arte?"

I mean, it's nice. It's good and all, but--

"What about magic?"

"Oppa is better! Hehe."

That was the moment Arte realized all over again of an existence much better than magic.